


we are enough

by sapphic_commander



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cadets, Corporal Punishment, Hurt Adora (She-Ra), Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Canon, Someone give them a hug, catradora if you squint, screw shadow weaver, seriously I almost beat shadow weaver up, sick catra, young catra and adora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28795878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphic_commander/pseuds/sapphic_commander
Summary: Catra is too ill to make it to training, and Shadow Weaver won't accept any signs of weakness. Adora puts herself in the line of fire, and she faces the consequences in Catra's place.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra)
Kudos: 67





	we are enough

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a few weeks back when I was feeling really anxious, and writing honestly helped. Evidently making a fic about Catra and Adora's childhood trauma does wonders. 
> 
> Also, to clarify, Catra and Adora are about 11-12 in this fan fiction :) 
> 
> Enjoy!!

In the Horde, you weren’t allowed to be weak. 

It was always sharpened like a weapon, and then directed right back at you. 

Being injured or hurt meant not being able to fight as well as you should’ve been able to. 

It meant falling behind.

It meant being the weak link on your team. 

It meant you weren’t useful to the Horde.

And that simply wasn’t tolerated.

**************************************************

Adora sat on the edge of the mattress Catra was curled up on, gently shaking her. 

“Catra!” she hissed desperately. “Please get up!” Catra cracked one eye open, the yellow-greenish color glinting in the low light that reflected off of the metal in the Fright Zone. 

“I can’t,” she groaned in response, burying her face into the crook of her arm. “I really can’t.” 

“Shadow Weaver will have your head,” Adora whispered softly, her voice pitched up in panic. She had meant to say it under her breath, but even while sick, with a stuffy nose and a headache, Catra could pick up the noise. 

“She’ll be here any minute.” Lonnie said unhelpfully, wringing her hands. “You need to think of something fast.” 

Although this problem only affected one of them, Catra, Shadow Weaver’s wrath was feared, even if it was directed at someone else.

She was known to shift the blame and change her mind in a heartbeat. 

Kyle threw a sympathetic look in Catra’s direction, as he, also being an opposite of a favorite, understood what this meant. 

It meant punishment. 

Usually Catra would be repulsed by the thought of relating to Kyle, but right now, that wasn't her main priority. 

“Catra, are you sure you can’t tough it out this time?” Adora asked for the fifteenth time. 

Feebly, Catra shook her head. Her head throbbed in response to the movement. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she whimpered. Typically, she wasn’t one to act this way, especially in front of the other cadets, but her vision was swimming and her throat was dry and her entire body ached. 

All she wanted to was to be fed soup and wrapped in a warm blanket, but that wasn’t something that was done here.

In the Horde, you didn’t get coddled. Not even as a child. 

That was weakness. 

It didn’t create a strong-willed, undefeatable soldier, who could continue fighting even while injured. 

It didn’t form a strong army that was able to defeat the princesses and rebels in one sweep, that could conquer and pillage and rule. 

“Ok. Ok. Let me think,” Adora said breathlessly, springing up to begin pacing. Rogelio made a rumbling noise in his throat as she almost stepped on his tail, but flicked it out of the way just in time. 

“Adora, stop,” Catra moaned. “You’re making me even dizzier.” Lonnie and Rogelio exchanged an alarmed look, as Catra, being part cat, was rarely ever even off-balance. 

Adora didn’t seem to hear Catra, and she started to mutter under her breath, worrying at her lower lip. 

“If I- no, no, maybe I could-” 

Before anyone could say anything else, or even begin formulating a plan, the metal door to their quarters slid open with a familiar _thunk_ , and in glided Shadow Weaver. 

Kyle jumped, ducking behind Lonnie, and Adora spun on her heels, automatically straightening and bringing her hand up to salute. Lonnie and Rogelio followed her lead, any expression that would betray their emotions dropping off of their faces. 

Catra managed to bristle a little, the fur on the back of her neck prickling, but other than that, she wasn’t strong enough for any other reaction. Adora glanced at her nervously. 

Shadow Weaver’s presence immediately had a suffocating effect, as if a blanket of her darkness had spread over them. The stifling silence was louder than any amount of yelling. 

Although the room always felt colder with the presence of the sorceress, a droplet of sweat made its way down Catra’s temple. 

Shadow Weaver’s white eyes flickered over the cadets, lingering on Kyle for a split second as he fumbled to snap to attention, and then following Adora’s gaze to land on Catra. 

The glowing spheres narrowed to slits, and she laced her sharp fingers together at her chest. 

“Catra,” she rasped, her voice like a cold vise that gripped her tightly in place. “Why are you still in bed? Training is to begin in less than ten minutes.” 

Catra pushed herself up a bit, clenching her jaw to keep her expression steely and uncaring. 

“I’m-”

“It seems your laziness has gotten the better of you,” Shadow Weaver interrupted, tilting her head, her tone sickly-sweet. “You know there is no place for indolence in the Horde.” 

She inched closer, looming over Catra as she hunched down in response, ears flattening against the back of her head. 

“I’m sorr-” 

“It’s my fault she’s like this,” Adora said suddenly, stepping forward. Shadow Weaver snapped her head towards her prized cadet, looking her up and down for a moment. 

Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle all mirrored Catra’s look of surprise, eyes widening for a moment and jaws going slack.

She was throwing herself into the line of fire for Catra, risking not just Shadow Weaver’s wrath, but corporal punishment. 

And either was a horrible option. 

“And why is that?” the sorceress drawled. If she was afraid, Adora didn’t show it. Her chin was lifted and expression blank. 

“I forgot to check the dates on our ration bars like you told me to. I gave her a bad one, and she got food poisoning.” Without even glancing at Catra, Shadow Weaver glided over towards Adora, looking down at her distastefully. 

Beneath the tall woman, her friend appeared tiny and pitiful, embodying the childish part of them that the Horde wanted to beat out of their young cadets. 

“You take responsibility for this… _mistake_?” she asked, spitting the word out like poison. 

Catra winced. Mistakes were not taken lightly in the Horde. 

But, being a star soldier, Adora might just scrape by. Maybe, just maybe, if Shadow Weaver was in a good mood, she would let her off with a warning. 

“Yes, I do,” Adora said, unfazed.

“Adora-” 

“Silence,” Shadow Weaver snapped, glaring at Catra. “Don’t make me have to punish the both of you for being dense and brainless idiots.” Her words were sharp, especially directed towards Adora, who was rarely ever berated like this. The girl glanced down, shoulders drooping. 

Without waiting for a response, Shadow Weaver grabbed Adora tightly by the arm, dragging her out of the room. Adora stumbled, taken by surprise, tripping over her own feet in an attempt to keep up. 

Evidently, the sorceress was _not_ in a good mood today. 

Adora looked back, throwing a watery smile in Catra’s direction, where she stared in horror. 

The door slid closed, leaving behind a heavy silence. 

Lonnie gave Catra a pitying look, then turned to Rogelio and Kyle.

“Come on,” she muttered. “We have to get to training.” Although Catra’s nostrils flared with anger at the fact that they were ignoring the fact that Adora was about to get in trouble, she didn’t blame them.

In the Horde, this was normal. 

Consequences would be given whether you liked it or not. 

There was no room for excuses here. 

**************************************************

Later that evening, after everyone had already returned from training and drills, even after lights out, Adora crept back into their quarters. 

Perhaps she had been expecting to return with everyone asleep, to avoid worrying them.

But Catra was still sitting there, at the base of Adora’s bed, waiting for her friend to return. 

Adora froze in the doorway, but then visibly relaxed when she saw who was there. 

“Hey,” she murmured, sitting down beside her. Catra squinted, leaning forward to get a closer look at her, then recoiled, turning away. 

A big, ugly, purple bruise was forming beneath her eye, and a trickle of dried blood remained underneath her nose. On her cheekbone was a red mark, and her hair was mussed, ponytail ruined. 

Catra didn’t even know what was hiding beneath Adora’s uniform. 

“Why did you do that?” she snapped. “You knew what would happen.” Adora shrugged, leaning back to grab her blanket and wrapping it around the both of their shoulders, snuggling into Catra’s side, who remained rigid in her anger. 

“She would’ve done worse to you. Besides, now you’ve had time to recover, and you can go back to training tomorrow, and no one will get in trouble. And..” Adora reached into her shirt, bringing out a small bottle of pills. She shook it gently, and it rattled. 

Catra gasped, eyes widening. 

“How did you get that? And what if someone caught you? You know about the terrible lashes people get for stealing medicine!” Adora smiled gently, opening the bottle and tapping it until two white pills fell out into the palm of her hand. 

“We passed the medicine wing, and I asked to use the washroom in there. Sure enough, there were some bottles left in there, I’m guessing from when someone used the sink water to swallow. No one will notice it’s gone.” 

Catra nodded slowly, still slightly apprehensive, then reached into her pocket and brought out a slightly crushed ration bar. 

“You missed dinner. It was your favorite.”

Now it was Adora’s turn to gasp, and she reached out, snatching the bar with her free hand. 

“The gray kind!” Catra nodded, smiling in response to Adora’s grin. 

Adora carefully dropped the pills into Catra’s hand, who grimaced. She had only ever taken them as supplements to help them get stronger, and she hated the way they scratched her throat when she swallowed them. 

Understanding her hesitation, Adora broke the ration bar in half, taking the pills and pushing them into the mush, then rolling it into a ball.

“You won’t even notice they’re there.” 

Smiling sleepily, Catra leaned in to rest her head on Adora’s shoulder, taking a small bite of her food. After the smallest moment of hesitation, Adora brought her arm up to wrap it around Catra. Her hair tickled Catra’s neck, but she didn’t dare move, for fear of ruining the peaceful moment. 

They simply sat like that, enjoying each other’s warmth in this cold place they called home. 

Because as long as they were together, that was enough.


End file.
